Tagged: United Healthcare

The confusing process of setting up Kentucky’s health insurance exchange should get clearer later this month.

The Affordable Care Act requires states to set up exchanges in which residents can compare and purchase health plans. Governor Steve Beshear choose to set up the state exchange earlier this year, rather than let the federal government operate the system.

So far, Beshear has created a new state office to house the exchange and he's named an executive director. 

And by the end of this month, the state must choose an existing health plan that will be the benchmark for the exchange. To be listed on the exchange, all other health plans will have to provide similar or better service than the benchmark.

Each plan must cover essential care items including:

The process of opening the Louisville area to Medicaid competition is underway.

Passport Health Plan has run Medicaid in the area for 15 years, but the state has been ordered by the federal government to allow at least one more private operator to do business in the region.

Passport officials say they will bid for the contract and requests were sent to other potential bidders this week.

A Kentucky lawmaker says implementation of a federal mandate to allow private companies to compete for Medicaid contracts in Louisville could be delayed.

Currently, Medicaid in Louisville and the surrounding area is managed by the private company Passport Health Plan. But the federal government has ordered Kentucky to open the area to competition. And the company United Healthcare is already attempting to muscle into the region.

State officials have not yet given private Medicaid operators permission to do business in the Louisville area, but that hasn't stopped one company from trying to make inroads.